Walking tour of Mt. Lebanon Cemetery to feature historical figures

Gerald A. Collins of Lebanon points out the plot of J.S. Bashore (1873-1959), proprietor of J.S. Bashore men's clothing store, civic leader and bank director, at the Mt. Lebanon Cemetery on Thursday. A walking tour of the cemetery is planned for July 20. (Earl Brightbill — Lebanon Daily News)

The graves of four revolutionary war veterans, engraved in Pennsylvania German, are well preserved at the Mt. Lebanon Cemetery. The graves are one stop on the upcoming cemetery tour on July 20. (Earl Brightbill — Lebanon Daily News)

You never know what history might be uncovered, especially at the Mt. Lebanon Cemetery in Lebanon.

"This is the Wilder, Sansone and Schropp family plot," Michael Trump of Rexmont, a sixth grade teacher in the Cornwall-Lebanon School District, explained Thursday. "And here is the grave of Ruth Schropp Wilder."

Wilder, Trump said, is a relative of Adam B. Schropp (1855-1926) and his brother, Jacob (1857-1911), former owners of the Lebanon Daily News. Nearby was the grave of Henry Lincoln Wilder, who "got involved with the paper after a death in the family."

The Wilder plot is one of 13 stops on the Mt. Lebanon Cemetery Tour, with two tours planned for Sunday, July 20, at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

The tour, the brainchild of Trump and Gerald Collins of Lebanon, was conceived in preparation for Lebanon County's bicentennial in 2013. For this year's tour, they are receiving help from John Mitchell, a senior at Cedar Crest High School, who decided to help as a part of a senior project.

Collins had previously worked on a tour with his church, and met Trump through a mutual interest in community research. Trump was interested in planning an event in celebration of the county's bicentennial.

"With the bicentennial coming up I said, 'Why don't we do something different, like a tour of the cemetery?'" Trump recalled. "We thought we might get 50 people last year, but there were well over 200."

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Mt. Lebanon Cemetery, incorporated in 1869, is located at 235 Maple St. in Lebanon, on a 169-acre property, and is home to more than 24,400 souls. The cemetery received many of its residents when the city's churches were pushed to move bodies from their smaller graveyards to the larger facility.

"In the 1870s there were at least 14 church graveyards in the city," Trump said. "Why not take advantage of the spot and re-inter the bodies?"

The cemetery, a scenic location away from the then heavy industry of the city, was a beautiful relief from city life. The property maintained, as did many cemeteries of the age, an atmosphere more akin to a public park than the morbidity currently associated with graveyards.

"People would come up for Sunday picnics, pack a lunch and sit with their family," Collins said.

The cemetery is filled with wildlife, Trump pointed out, including orioles and state champion trees.

They will also be giving a tour of the community mausoleum, a large mausoleum which is available for public interment.

Last year, "a lot of people came specifically to see the community mausoleum," Trump said. "As far as we know, that was the first time the mausoleum was open to the public."

In the interest of time, Collins and Trump decided to halve the content of last year's tour. When the public showed marked interest in the second half of the tour, however, the two decided to the second half this year, in addition to adding 10 more names to the previous list of 84 notable people buried at the cemetery.